Co-perceiving: Bringing the social into perception.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Psychology
• Philosophy of Mind

Background:

• Traditionally, shared perception was explained by joint attention or joint action.
• These concepts may not fully capture the mechanistic underpinnings of social perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a broader, mechanistic framework for understanding shared perception, termed co-perception.
• To differentiate co-perception from existing concepts like joint attention and simultaneous individual perception.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis and review of existing literature on social perception.
• Theoretical integration of findings from psychology and philosophy.

Main Results:

• Co-perception is defined as sensitivity to others' perceptual engagement and distinguishing private from common objects.
• This ability does not require complex mind-reading or explicit coordination.
• Co-perception offers a unified account for diverse social scenarios, including cooperation and competition.

Conclusions:

• Co-perception provides a more nuanced understanding of how individuals navigate shared environments.
• Shared experiences influence not only emotions but also fundamental perceptual processes.
• This framework necessitates a re-evaluation of classical paradigms in social influences on perception.